n the Moroccan subconscious, our Berber ancestors would have quickly converted without any resistance to the Arab armies from the Middle East. Apart from Koceila, the Berber king having succeeded in not only repelling but also defeating Uqba Ibn Nafi during the Battle of Tahouda and the Kahina des Aurès, we have no mention of any real Moroccan resistance.
During this period Mauretania Tingitana was under the control of Count Julian (Ulban or Yulyan). According to various sources, he would be a Byzantine or Visigoth prince but according to modern historians such as Luis García de Valdeavellano, there is a very strong possibility that Count Julian was of Berber origin from the Ghomara confederation and of Christian faith. We can thus exclude any kind of Byzantine influence since the weakening of the latter during the arrival of the Umayads (revolts, assassinations, period of instability). As said before, he was governor of the Ghomara confederation, composed of Christian Masmouda tribes and extending from Tangier to Sebta.
Other sources add that he was (in addition to being governor of Tingis), governor of Algeciras, Cadiz, Cartagena and Tarifa (i.e. former Byzantine Spain). In 665, the second Umayyad invasion of the Maghreb began, which arrived for the first time at the borders of Maghrib Al Aqsa. In 682, Uqba Ibn Nafi tried to conquer Tangier despite the warnings of his companions. His ambitions will be doomed to failure as Luis Garcia from Valdeavellano tells us:
In their fight against the Byzantines and the Berbers, the Arab leaders had greatly expanded their possessions in Ifriqya, and by the beginning of 682, Oqba ibn Nafi reached the shores of the Atlantic, but he was unable to occupy Tangier, as he was forced to turn back his way to the Atlas Mountains by a man whom history and legend have retained under the name of Count Julian.
According to Ibn Abdal Hakam, Julian would have sent his daughter “La Cava” to Toledo in Roderic's court for her education. Nevertheless, La Cava will be abused by him, which will push his father to want revenge. Despite having easily repelled Musa Ibn Nusair during a siege in Ceuta, which, according to George Ostrogorski, was the only serious resistance the Arabs had encountered in the Maghreb, he appealed to the Umayads for help by offering them several gifts and thus attempting a policy of approach.
After that, he asked for the help of Tariq Ibn Ziyad and by offering him all his boats which would also serve him for his future conquest of Andalusia. After Tariq's victory in Guadalete, Julien ceded Tangier to him and according to medieval chronicles, Tariq was the king and prince of the believers of Morocco as well as of the rest of the Moors. Julien will end his life in Ceuta, which will then be taken peacefully by the Umayads.
